Helping Funders Work Together Better

Tools to Assess progress & results

Collaboration Diagnostics

These tools help partners assess the health of their current collaboratives.

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GrantCraft Collaboration Assessment

FREE

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The members of a prospective collaborative have many important decisions to make together. Experienced funders said that clarity on these issues early on is essential for good relations and success. Every collaborative has distinctive goals and benchmarks against which it measures the outcomes of its own work. However, there are also common, agreed-upon indicators that say a lot about the collaborative itself and its successful functioning. This tool includes a guide to aid the start-up process, as well as a list that collaborative members can use to rate a collaborative’s success and open up a healthy conversation.

Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory

FREE

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The Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory is “a free online collaboration assessment. This tool will help you assess how your collaboration is doing on 20 research-tested success factors. When you complete this inventory, you will receive summary scores for each of these factors.

Comprehensive Collaboration Workspaces

CiviCRM

FREE

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"CiviCRM is web-based, open source, Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) software geared toward meeting the needs of non-profit and other civic-sector organizations. As a non profit committed to the public good itself, CiviCRM understands that forging and growing strong relationships with constituents is about more than collecting and tracking constituent data - it is about sustaining relationships with supporters over time. To this end, CiviCRM has created a robust web-based, open source, highly customizable, CRM to meet organizations’ highest expectations right out-of-the box. Unlike proprietary software, each new release of this open source software reflects the very real needs of its users as enhancements are continually given back to the community. With CiviCRM's robust feature set, organizations can further their mission through contact management, fundraising, event management, member management, mass e-mail marketing, peer-to-peer campaigns, case management, and much more."

Drupal Commons

FREEMIUM

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“Drupal Commons is a packaged form of Drupal (a ‘Drupal distribution’) that contains the majority of pre-built features that a social community or external community site might need to create productive interactions among employees, customers—blogs, wikis, calendars, and much more. It provides a robust community site out of the box so that you don’t have to assemble all of the pieces yourself, all you need to do is invite people to participate.”

Huddle

FREEMIUM

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Huddle lets you “store, share, and work on files with anyone inside and outside your organization—from your desktop, iPad, or smartphone.” It allows you to “share files across the firewall with your colleagues and partners… comment, assign and assign tasks and approvals—all in one central location—to get work done efficiently and effectively)… and [to create] user profiles [that] allow you to connect with the specific people you need to contribute to your project.”

KARL

FREEMIUM

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“KARL is an open source web system for collaboration, organizational intranets, and knowledge management. KARL is simple to use and enables small and large groups to create communities and to share information… Top features include: topic-based communities, powerful search, secured external collaboration, rich text wiki, collaborative blog, layered group calendar, strong email integration, and outstanding security.”

Socialtext

FEE

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“By simplifying people’s ability to share knowledge, ideas and corporate data, Socialtext removes silos and corporate barriers that have traditionally hampered companies’ ability to respond to change and better serve customers. Socialtext’s enterprise social networking products — including microblogging, blogs, wikis, profiles, and social spreadsheets — provide simpler ways for employees to share vital information and work together in real-time. Delivered in a variety of hosted cloud services, as well as on-site appliances, enterprise customers are provided with flexible deployment options that meet their security requirements.”

Wiggio

FREE

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“Wiggio.com is a free, online toolkit that makes it easy to work in groups. Over 100,000 groups are using Wiggio to: host virtual meetings and conference calls; manage events with a shared calendar; create to do lists and assign tasks; poll your group in real time; send email, text and voice messages; and upload and manage files in a shared folder.”

Data Aggregation, Sharing, & Standards

These tools help people compile, standardize, and share information.

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Electronic Grant Reporting

FREE

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“The Foundation Center’s eGrant and hGrant Reporting Programs enable grantmakers to quickly and easily share grants data, and equip you with interactive maps that showcase your grants activity. Through the eGrant Reporting program, you can submit your grants electronically to the Foundation Center on a regular basis, expediting their inclusion in Foundation Directory Online, the nation’s most widely used searchable database of U.S. grantmakers and their grants, and Philanthropy In/Sight, the Foundation Center’s tool for tracking the work of foundations worldwide.”

Fluxx

FEE

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Fluxx is “a collaborative work platform, connecting everyone in your organization to the data that runs your business.” Fluxx provides “unified software systems… [where] segregated data streams are brought together, fostering entirely new interactions and revolutionary insights; a usable user interface [that] allows everyone in your organization to interact with data via custom dashboard views; and a social work platform [that] bridges organizational gaps with practical social features that foster more efficient workflow and catalyze collaboration.” Fluxx has been used in philanthropic settings to help streamline grants management processes.

Glasspockets

FREE

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“Glasspockets.org is a web site created by the Foundation Center focused on transparency in philanthropy. With Glasspockets, the Foundation Center and its partners are working to: inspire private foundations to greater openness in their communications; increase understanding of best practices in foundation transparency and accountability in an online world; illustrate how institutional philanthropy is relevant to the critical issues of our time; highlight the many stories of philanthropy that show how private wealth is serving the public good; and illuminate successes, failures, and ongoing experimentation so foundations can build on each other’s ideas to increase impact.”

Intuit’s QuickBase

FEE

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“QuickBase provides one platform from which workgroups can easily create unlimited applications to automate business processes and improve communication and collaboration online. QuickBase applications solve critical business problems and help improve productivity and efficiency because they are tailored by the user to match the exact workflow and unique needs of their team - something complex point solutions or generic spreadsheets simply can't match.”

NGOsource

FEE

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“NGOsource helps U.S. grantmakers streamline their international giving through easier equivalency determinations. NGOsource simplifies the task of evaluating whether a non-U.S. organization is the equivalent of a U.S. public charity—a process known as equivalency determination or ED. [NGOsource’s] global reach, legal expertise, and standardized methodology enable a thorough, accurate analysis in compliance with IRS regulations. Backed by a database of detailed information about non-governmental organizations around the world, the data and analysis that NGOsource uses to issue an ED to one grantmaker can be used to issue EDs to other grantmakers. In this way, NGOsource reduces the complexity and costs of EDs for grantmakers and their intended grantees.”

Open Aid Register

FREE

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Open Aid Register helps “non-profits and NGOs publish their aid data using the most common data standard for aid: IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) and ensures that this data remains open. One of the key problems facing global aid transparency initiatives today is knowing who is doing what, where. Publishing aid data in IATI allows the aid information from NGOs and non-profits to be cross-referenced and compared with aid data published by donors. Striving to get all global aid information published in the same format will allow funders, providers, and recipients of aid, in addition to the general public, to understand what is currently being done and what should be done in the global aid arena.”

Tools and Resources for Assessing Social Impact

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“Tools and Resources for Assessing Social Impact (TRASI) is a searchable, expert-reviewed database of over 150 approaches to measuring the impact of social programs and investments. It also features a community portal for nonprofits, grantmakers, and social enterprises to connect with peers and evaluation experts. With TRASI you can: browse a listing of over 150 tools and resources for assessing social impact; search for tools and resources based on the framework outlined in McKinsey’s Learning for Social Impact initiative; find ready-to-use tools to conduct a program evaluation; learn what leading foundations, nonprofits, and social enterprises are using to measure their impact; read the latest foundation-funded reports and case studies; and connect with a network of peers and experts interested in assessment.”

Data Analysis & Visualization

These tools help groups develop a shared understanding of the patterns within their data.

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Gapminder World

FREE

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“Gapminder World shows the world’s most important trends. Gapminder is a non-profit venture—a modern “museum” on the Internet—promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.” Gapminder is based on the “Trendalyzer software, [which] sought to unveil the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics. The current version of Trendalyzer has been available since March 2006 as Gapminder World, a web-service displaying time series of development statistics for all countries.”

GivingData

FEE

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“GivingData is a dashboard, data visualization, and grantmaking analytics platform for philanthropic organizations. Grants can be analyzed, measured, tracked, and compared in new ways—providing unprecedented degrees of clarity, insight, and process management capabilities. With GivingData you can track grantmaking dollars against your annual budget, manage your grantmaking budget, identify trends over multiple years, and view programmatic allocations – all through a web browser. There is no software to install…. Currently, GivingData works with MicroEdge GIFTS, and plans to add support for other grants management platforms in the future.”

Infogram

FREEMIUM

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Infogram is a data visualization product designed to bring out the best in your data. Great for reports, publishing, or press releases, Infogram allows you to create professional-looking interactive infographics in just a few minutes. You can even create Team Accounts to collaborate with people across the organization. Registration is free and gives you access to 30 chart types and the ability to publish your graphs online. Paid memberships allow you to access more tools, including saving infographics and using real-time data.

WASHFunders

FREE

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“The Foundation Center has developed WASHfunders.org as a “one stop shop” for funding and needs-related data and information for donors, policymakers, and other stakeholders interested in water, sanitation, and hygiene. With dynamically updated information, news, and knowledge relating to philanthropy and sustainable access to safe water, WASHfunders.org aims to facilitate better collaboration and more strategic decision-making among funders and seeks to raise awareness about water and the full WASH continuum among donors.”

Data Gathering

These tools make it easy to collect data, solicit feedback, or ask a question to a large group of people.

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SurveyMonkey

FREEMIUM

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“SurveyMonkey is a free, online survey software and questionnaire tool. It helps users create surveys and get answers. SurveyMonkey allows you to build your own surveys or choose from templates; to choose how to distribute [the survey] and start collecting responses; and to use powerful analytical tools for intelligent insights.”

Innovation Management

These tools support group brainstorming and innovation.

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IdeaScale

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“IdeaScale is an easy-to-use, yet powerful solution for the collection of feedback and ideas.” It helps users, “empower innovation, bring[ing] out the best ideas from your customers and stakeholders by giving them a platform to share, vote, and discuss feedback. How it works: users submit ideas… others vote on those ideas… and the best ideas bubble up. This process allows you to get feedback from your loyal constituents, understand those constituents, solve problems, and steer innovation by knowing what your community really wants.”

Project Management

These tools help manage collaborative projects and keep group members informed about roles, responsibilities, and timelines.

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Microsoft Project Online

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Microsoft Project Online with Project Pro for Office 365 is a flexible online solution for project portfolio management and everyday work.” Features include the ability to: “add teams and projects within minutes with a web-based portal; keep your teams organized in one location—their project site—where they can view project summaries, documents, tasks, newsfeeds, and calendars; easily share and curate what teams are talking about and working on by following people, sites, tags, and documents with newsfeeds; promote visibility with collaborative tools to seamlessly flow calendar, presence, and capacity information across your organization; and collaborate with your team quickly by dragging and dropping them into a Lync meeting for group conferencing, instant messaging, screen sharing, and shared workspaces.”

Wrike

FREEMIUM

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Wrike is an online tool for project management and work collaboration. It enables its users to manage and track projects, deadlines, schedules, and other workflow processes. It also allows users to collaborate with one another. The primary goal of the software is to help streamline workflow and allow companies to focus on core tasks. Virtually all versions of the software feature an activity stream that updates users on any activity performed by other users in specified work groups. Social features are also embedded into Wrike's software.